Canada's Environmental Voice
Alternatives Journal is releasing our latest issue, Getting There: The Ecosystem of Human Movement. The carbon footprint of an individual within a developed country is drastically higher than someone in a developing country. The reason behind this is partly in how we choose to get around. We drive to work […]
There’s an ethereal quality to much nature writing that can feel oppressively twee, miscalibrated to life in the Anthropocene. Annie Dillard may have had a year to wander the Blue Ridge Mountains playing King of the Meadow with grasshoppers, but that was 1974. Haven’t you heard? A Delaware-sized iceberg is […]
Some of my fondest memories take place during family dinners at the cottages in Wasaga Beach back when my sister and I would stay with my nonna and nonno (grandmother and grandfather) for the summers. Family members and family friends, or as we call them “cumpari,” owned and rented cottages […]
Editor’s note: This article is an exploration of a truly complicated topic: food and climate change. We’ve shared perspectives that touch upon the personal aspects, the scientific realities, and the actionable first-steps that can be taken to better plan for future changes in our climate.
While many of us aspire to buy all our food locally sourced and organic, grocery stores trips are a still a common reality, especially in the winter. We’ve put together some tips to help you make the best-possible choices while you’re there. To focus on wholesome foods, individuals are often […]
Whether on a patio, a balcony, in a backyard, or even in a fish tank, growing an urban garden in the midst of a large metropolis is possible with as little or as much space as you can muster. Gardening isn’t always easy, but once you create your own food, […]
Ed Jernigan is professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo Among many other accomplishments, Jernigan is founding director of Waterloo Unlimited, and founding director of the University of Waterloo’s Bachelor of Knowledge Integration program. From 1984 to 2015 Ed served as the program director for the Shad Valley summer enrichment […]
The blooms returned in 2002. Many hoped the toxic sludge of algae that blanketed the western and central basins of Lake Erie was gone for good, yet the volume of smothering plant matter was growing steadily. Summers from 2008 to 2010 were bloom-heavy in the shallowest of the Great Lakes. […]
Visiting the AR Kaufman Family YMCA in Kitchener, Ontario, is a bit like dropping into an idealized version of the old family homestead. The young and old, quiet and noisy, confident and shy all gather there – many generations under one roof, working together to build for the future. Add […]
What do small-scale farmers and market gardeners do in the winter? This is a perennial question for growers in temperate climates where the growing season for sustainable, local agriculture is traditionally just half of the year.
